This very simple caprese tart is perfect for a successful, quick and easy-to-make meal. It takes only five minutes to prepare if you use a pesto sauce from a pot, and the tart is very good like that.
If you have 10 more minutes, it worth making a home-made pesto sauce: the flavours of basil, parmesan, pine nuts and olive oil are better noticed, and it is very easy to do with a hand mixer. The recipe I use come from a book from My Cooking Class collection, that I really like for the variety of recipes and detailed pictures to explain the recipe’s steps.
You can always prepare a pot of home-made pesto sauce in advance and keep it in the fridge a few days without any problem.
However, the base of this tart is a puff pastry so I advise you to buy it already made. Even if I usually prefer making my own pastry, the puff pastry takes a very long time to make and requires some skills, so I better let a “professional ” in charge of this part.
Besides the already-made version is very good too.
I like this recipe because:
– It has many advantages: quick, simple to make and very tasty.
– It matches perfectly with any type of meal: family, friends, for a picnic etc.
– Accompany the tart with a salad and a honey & mustard vinaigrette for a fresh summer meal.
Tricks:
– You can replace or add some the ingredients like cheddar, york ham, bacon, chorizo, mushrooms, dried tomatoes etc.
– Buy a basil plant if you can, it grows very easily and you will always have enough fresh basil leaves for cooking. It will also be much cheaper.
INGREDIENTS:
For the pesto sauce:
– 30g pine nuts
– 4 bunches fresh basil leaves (100g)
– 1 cloves garlic
– 10g walnuts (optional)
– Salt, pepper and grated cilantro seeds
– 30g parmesan
– 10cl olive oil
Tart:
– 1 puff pastry
– 4 or 5 tablespoons of pesto sauce
– 3 tomatoes
– 2 or 3 slices serrano or smoked ham
– 1 small red or green pepper
– 1 ball fresh mozzarella
– 100g grated Emmental or Comté
– Fresh or dried oregano
– A drizzle of olive oil
– Salt, Pepper, grated cilantro seeds and any other seasoning you like.
Caprese tart with pesto and mozzarella recipe
– Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
– Prepare the pesto sauce: grill the pine nuts in a pan until they get brown. Throw all the nuts, basil, garlic and seasoning in a bowl and mix, adding little by little the parmesan and the olive oil until the sauce is smooth. You can add a bit of broth if you have to make the sauce more liquid.
– Extend the puff pastry on the baking sheet, with a kitchen paper below it, and cover it with pesto sauce.
– Add all the ingredients on the pastry: the tomatoes and the pepper, sliced, the ham and the mozzarella cut into small pieces, and last the grated cheese.
– Season with oregano, salt, pepper, grated coriander seeds and a drizzle of olive oil.
– Bake the tart for 20 minutes or so, until the cheese begins to turn Brown and crispy.
This is ready !!! Bon appétit …
